Waldorf and Statler Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 @Thursday: think about it If he had shot his hand who is to say Old Joe wouldn't have had a robot prosthetic hand or something similar appear? As to the ending I believe that pretty much caused the future to dramatically change. The badass TK mobster is no more, replaced by a kid that has a lot of good in him with no sense of revenge since his mom is alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 @Thursday: think about it If he had shot his hand who is to say Old Joe wouldn't have had a robot prosthetic hand or something similar appear? Because it didn't happen with the other guy who was slowly dismembered. Remember, it doesn't change the "past", only the "future" so unless he happened to have a robotic hand on his person at that time which he could quickly slap on that wouldn't have happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldorf and Statler Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 I don't get it how was what I said differently? If that logic happened he would have never appeared in this universe because he was gonna kill himself at the end of the day. Shooting his hand off had the possibility time-travel wise to change the future where let's say he shot it off, then somehow he's still able to kill the mom. Then he lives his life, gets a robotic hand and then gets sent to the past again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 But that's what I mean, that kind of recursive future change doesn't happen in the movie's system. That guy at the beginning didn't have prosthetics appearing to replace his removed limbs, he just lost his limbs. It also doesn't change what would have happened had the change been there all along, it only changes the state of the world right there, right then. If it had changed other things then that guy couldn't have gone to the warehouse in a car because he had no limbs to operate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldorf and Statler Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 Can we take into account the fact the guy was taken hostage and wouldn't have a chance to leave and get prosthetics in the future because he was gonna get killed anyways? Young Joe wouldn't have gotten captured since Old Joe killed everybody so he WOULD've had a chance to go and get prosthetics, unlike this guy who was gonna get killed regardless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 But if you take that into account then you have to consider that beginning future guy shouldn't even have been there anyway. He couldn't have driven the car, he couldn't have run away, he couldn't have done anything, so obviously that stuff didn't take retroactive effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldorf and Statler Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 (edited) GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAD edit: Let's agree that there are no set rules on how time travel works and this movie's time traveling wasn't too well established to say "they should've done it this way" over another. Edited October 4, 2012 by Waldorf And Statler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgi Duke of Frisbee Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 IMMA TIME TRAVELER AND THESE ARE MY MAGIC TIME TRAVEL PANTS YOU WANT SOME WELL YOU CAN'T HAVE SOME GIVE ME THIRTY DOLLARS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 I'm on board with Ethan's interpretation of time travel in the movie. It's established that stuff in between Young Joe's "now" and the Old Joe's "now" is not fixed. Old Joe tells Young Joe this in the cafe. When he talks about everything in his past being fuzzy until Young Joe does it. If Young Joe shoots off his shooting hand that creates a fixed point and Old Joe will lose his hand, as established with the running looper, however everything beyond that is not fixed. Otherwise the looper who ran would have lost all his body parts instantaneously. In fact, he would have arrived in the future with no limbs. Even if it was the case that a prosthetic could appear, Young Joe is the one with the power to change it, not Old Joe. Old Joe can't decide that he would have gotten a prosthetic hand. Young Joe however can decide that he will not get a prosthetic ever. Like I say, the ending worked well for the film. I'm not about to go on a Mass Effect 3 rampage demanding that it be changed. All I'm saying is, you put me in that situation, I'd do things differently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 (edited) Yeah, I thought the time travel rules were quite well-established and consistent. They don't make sense in a "real world" kind of way, but they were consistent within the movie and that's all I care about. *Edit* - @TN: I don't know that the plan of shooting of his hand would have worked, because Old Joe was pretty much The Determinator and would not stop, ever. Sure it would have saved the kid right there, right then, but it wouldn't have been a long term solution. Edited October 5, 2012 by TheMightyEthan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 They don't make sense in a "real world" kind of way Well, it is time travel. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Exactly, that's why I only care if it's internally consistent rather than "realistic". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgi Duke of Frisbee Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Even if its take on time travel isn't the "norm", I prefer it because it's easily the most interesting way anyone's ever portrayed the concept. But I know some people disagree with me and think Back to the Future is a good movie, so "most interesting" or "best" use of time travel is debatable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 (edited) Looper was great, great, great fun. The time travel not being "realistic" is fine; time travel itself creates unsolveable paradoxes unless you adopt a parallel-universe style of time travel, but then you lose a lot of the fun messing-with-causality storylines, like those in Looper or Back to the Future. The biggest plothole in Looper, for me, is the idea that in the future, the government and polcie forces are so powerful that murder can no longer happen , yet Joe seems to do just fine being a hired gun for drive-bys. There's an inconsistency in how the police are nonexistent in the world, seemingly, but are also so immensely powerful that even the Rainmaker is afraid of them. There's actually a lot of potential for this contradiction, but Looper wastes it. I kept on wanting to hear or see that the whole rationale was a lie or coverup for something other than hiding mob murders. I think there's a lot of potential in the idea that teh Rainmaker is closing loops because he wants to bring his mother back, or unmake himself as a monster. Edited October 5, 2012 by TheMightyEthan Added spoiler tags 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 To me, the biggest issue I had after watching it was instead of sending them back alive for the loopers to kill, why not just kill them in the future and send the body back for the looper to dispose of. You accomplish the same thing of getting rid of the body but you don't have the risk of the person escaping the looper. Also, favorite line from the movie: "I'm from the future. You should go to China." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Exactly, that's why I only care if it's internally consistent rather than "realistic". Oh, yeah, I agree totally. Trying to pick things apart from a logical standpoint would probably ruin a lot of films, actually. Hoping I get to see the film this weekend. I loved Brick, and the guy's a talented writer/director. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorgi Duke of Frisbee Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Also, favorite line from the movie: "I'm from the future. You should go to China." Yeah, Jeff Daniels did an excellent job. Sells his character very well, and creates an entertaining antagonist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Holy shit, all this time I was thinking that was Jeff Bridges... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 The dude abides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted October 7, 2012 Report Share Posted October 7, 2012 So I went to see Frankenweenie but it was sold out so I saw Looper instead. It was a lot better than the premise made it sound but don't think about the time travel too hard or OH GOD MY BRAIN. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldorf and Statler Posted October 7, 2012 Report Share Posted October 7, 2012 Pretty much. And I have no interest in seeing Frankenweenie. I'd suggest watching ParaNorman instead but it's probably gone from all theaters already because it doesn't have Disney in front of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted October 7, 2012 Report Share Posted October 7, 2012 I wanted to see ParaNorman but I never got the chance and now it's long gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldorf and Statler Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 Btw Thursday and Ethan, they interviewed Looper's director on io9 and somebody asked your question. His answer is simplistic and clear. I did think of that while I was writing, but just think logically about what would happen in the next 10 seconds if he did that. Old Joe (who is holding his pistol with both hands) re-grips/grabs his gun and fires away, and young Joe is now bleeding out in the field with no way of shooting his other hand off. Unless he uses his teeth I guess. Which I would in fact love to have seen. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madbassman39 Posted October 9, 2012 Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 I haven't seen looper so maybe they thought of this or solved it... but if I was an assassin in the present killing people in the future, I would be a scam artist. Instead of killing my targets, I would tell them that they are special and I will let them live but only them, (everybody would think I was doing them specifically a favor, but really I'm just scamming everyone). I would take my future money and be like "yea, I killed them all" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Jack Posted October 9, 2012 Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 There's a reason that wouldn't work. I'll just say that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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